{"id":550571,"date":"2018-03-26T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=550571"},"modified":"2018-03-25T20:45:37","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T02:45:37","slug":"how-the-u-s-mexico-border-has-split-the-tohono-oodham-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/03\/how-the-u-s-mexico-border-has-split-the-tohono-oodham-tribe\/","title":{"rendered":"How the U.S.-Mexico border has split the Tohono O\u2019odham tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>If you\u2019re driving the 70 miles from Tucson to Sells, Arizona,<\/strong> you might want to stop for a break at the Sells grocery store. It looks a lot like any other small-town American market. But the sign above the pizzas reads <em>S-gewi haiku huk, <\/em>not \u201cfrozen foods,\u201d because this small town is the center of business and government for the Tohono O\u2019odham Nation, and the signs are in O\u2019odham Neogi, a language you\u2019ve probably never heard of.<\/p>\n<p>Keep heading south along the two-lane highway, and you\u2019ll see a stunning desert landscape with a jagged mountain backdrop. In just 20 miles, though, you\u2019ll have to stop again. Not for a break, but because the road ends here, at a big empty lot near a fence. Border Patrol agents are parked here, and you are not allowed to cross the border into Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Lately, the only entities allowed to cross freely are dogs. They don\u2019t appear to have owners, but they don\u2019t look too hungry: The Mexican ranchers south of the fence, the Tohono O\u2019odham, who are American citizens, in the north, and the Border Patrol agents in between them somehow manage to keep the dogs fed.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hcn.org\/issues\/50.5\/tribal-affairs-how-the-u-s-mexico-border-has-split-the-tohono-oodham?utm_source=nmpolitics.net&amp;utm_medium=web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">High\u200b \u200bCountry\u200b \u200bNews<\/a>\u200b,\u200b \u200ba\u200b \u200bnonprofit\u200b \u200bnews\u200b \u200borganization\u200b \u200bthat\u200b \u200bcovers\u200b \u200bthe\u200b \u200bimportant\u200b \u200bissues\u200b \u200bthat define\u200b \u200bthe\u200b \u200bAmerican\u200b \u200bWest.\u200b \u200b\u200b<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hcn.org\/subscribe?src=header\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Subscribe<\/a>\u200b,\u200b \u200bget\u200b \u200bthe\u200b\u200b \u200b<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hcn.org\/enewsletter\/commons-email-signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">enewsletter<\/a>\u200b,\u200b \u200band\u200b \u200bfollow\u200b \u200bHCN\u200b \u200bon\u200b\u200b \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/highcountrynews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a>\u200b\u200b \u200band\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/highcountrynews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>\u200b.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>For the dogs, life on the border is simple. For everyone else, it\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n<p>Before Mexico, before the United States, before the Tohono O\u2019odham were a federally recognized tribe, and long before the era of modern border security, the Tohono O\u2019odham \u2014 desert people, they call themselves \u2014 lived in what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. For thousands of years there was no border, and even after its creation, it had little impact on the tribe. But today, the tribe is divided. A security fence separates their ancestral lands and citizens, and the Border Patrol monitors their territory so closely that tribal members cannot cross freely to conduct business, attend religious or spiritual gatherings, or visit family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the tribal government spends $3 million annually on border security, and the tribal police force spends half its time on border-related issues, including illegal drugs and immigrants. Border freedom is a privilege reserved only for dogs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>During President Donald Trump\u2019s campaign,<\/strong> when \u201cthe wall\u201d was arguably his hottest issue, a brief media storm passed over the reservation. Reporters parachuted in and painted a simple picture, saying the tribe was opposed to the border wall and, therefore, largely against border security. The first part is true; the latter, less so. Popular opinion and the tribal government are nearly unified in their anti-wall stance: \u201cOver my dead body we will build a wall,\u201d the Tohono O\u2019odham Vice Chairman Verlon Jose famously said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QChXZVXVLKo\" width=\"771\" height=\"433\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But the wall is only a small piece of the border puzzle. When it comes to O\u2019odham approaches to border security, the opinions of people are as diverse as the desert is dry.<\/p>\n<p>The older generation is reflective of many American baby boomers: more conservative, more willing to cooperate with the federal government, and with a track record of supporting and enhancing border security in their roles as government officials, law enforcement and community leaders. They want to protect their tribe\u2019s youth \u2014 and by extension, the United States \u2014 from the dangers of illegal immigration and drug cartels. For years, the tribal government has actively cooperated with all relevant agencies to police illegal border activity, particularly since 9\/11, when the federal government and the tribe built a vehicle barrier along the border.<\/p>\n<p>But there is also the younger, activist generation: idealistic and educated about international Indigenous issues, eager to put tribal sovereignty above the needs of the federal government. They believe in \u201cdecolonizing,\u201d and they are aggressively opposed to the militarization of their reservation. They value Indigenous nationhood over allegiance to America. Some critics dismiss them as conspiracy theorists.<\/p>\n<p>And then, there are those in between, like Art Wilson, Tohono O\u2019odham legislative councilman. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated,\u201d he said.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Like many in his generation, he appreciates the security that the U.S. Border Patrol and the fence offers, but he is upset by the increasingly clear separation between O\u2019odham people, based on which side of the border they live on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to be separated from our relatives in the south,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we can\u2019t gather with them, I really have seen, over the years, how that impacts our people\u2019s involvement in ceremonies, and how it tears families apart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wilson, whose tribal affiliation makes him a U.S. citizen, was born on the Mexican side of the border but grew up crossing it freely between home and school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was young, this fence wasn\u2019t here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe spoke mostly O\u2019odham, and we always crossed back and forth from school to home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019odham then not only identified as O\u2019odham first but also lived, functioned and socialized as O\u2019odham first. The distinction of American or Mexican was secondary. But in the 1990s, when Mexican drug cartels began to infiltrate the reservation, violence exploded. Today, tribal officials still consider drug activity to be at a crisis level and have been actively \u2014 and fairly successfully \u2014 working to control it.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Tohono O\u2019odham Department of Public Safety, migrant apprehensions on the reservation dropped by 84 percent from 2003 to 2016, thanks in large part to the tribe\u2019s contribution of resources and efforts. During that time, the Tohono O\u2019odham Police Department and U.S. Border Patrol worked together to seize a yearly average of about 300,000 pounds of illegal drugs on the reservation.<\/p>\n<p>Integrated Fixed Towers, otherwise known as IFTs, are now the focus of conversation about the border for the Tohono O\u2019odham. Described as a \u201cvirtual wall,\u201d IFTs are solar-powered surveillance systems equipped with infrared and video technology to detect movement. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the towers use surveillance cameras to help Border Patrol agents detect and respond more quickly to border incursions.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, there are 52 IFTs up and running in southern Arizona. None, however, are on the Tohono O\u2019odham Reservation. Both the tribal chairman and vice chairman support IFTs, as do many other leaders and citizens, but the nation\u2019s young activists are staunchly opposed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got a lot of press on the wall, but there\u2019s a huge gap in coverage regarding the IFTs,\u201d said Nellie David, a tribal member who is writing her dissertation on border security issues at the University of Arizona. \u201cThese towers are a huge violation of our rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce they go up, we\u2019ll be watched 24\/7,\u201d said David. \u201cThis is unprecedented surveillance toward an entire community, and it\u2019s unconstitutional encroachment on our rights and privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David and other opponents say they are also concerned about the IFTs\u2019 environmental impacts. Even though an environmental assessment has been completed, activists contend that there isn\u2019t enough data to ensure that, say, bird and bat migration patterns won\u2019t be affected. And many of the towers would be built in areas considered sacred to many O\u2019odham. (U.S. Customs and the Border Patrol did not respond to repeated requests for comment on IFTs.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have sacred mountains where the community can\u2019t even live because they\u2019re so sacred \u2014 our medicine men are buried in those mountains,\u201d said David. \u201cAnd that\u2019s one of the mountains where they plan to put some towers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe (Tohono O\u2019odham) Nation is afraid that if we don\u2019t do our part as American citizens to protect America, then that puts us in danger as a tribe \u2014 especially with the Trump administration,\u201d said Amy Juan, an anti-IFT activist who also works for the International Indian Treaty Council. \u201cI understand the political game. Everybody\u2019s hope is that if we approve the towers, we won\u2019t have to deal with the wall. But at the end of the day, we might just end up with both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The day I visited the border, where the road from Sells ended, I stood near the fence with Art Wilson, listening to stories from his childhood. As we talked, a Border Patrol agent approached us and warned us, respectfully, that without permission from the Tohono O\u2019odham government we would have to leave the area and take our cameras with us. Wilson showed the agent his tribal I.D. and the issue was settled, but it seemed odd to me that a Tohono O\u2019odham tribal member in his own homeland would need to carry identification for American border agents.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson appeared unbothered. But as we drove north along the rough, dirt road, I asked him what he would do to solve the problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want them to pick up that fence and move it south so that all of our O\u2019odham people can be together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Chelsey Luger is a freelance journalist and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to the &#8216;wall,&#8217; this tribe is divided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":550599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,709],"class_list":["post-550571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-native-americans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}